French tarragon is the variety used for cooking in the kitchen[8] and is not grown from seed, as the flowers are sterile; instead, it is propagated by root division.

It is not as intensely aromatic and flavorsome as its French cousin, but it produces many more leaves from early spring onwards that are mild and good in salads and cooked food.

Russian tarragon loses what flavor it has as it ages and is widely considered useless as a culinary herb, though it is sometimes used in crafts.

Tarragon has a flavor and odor profile reminiscent of anise due largely to the presence of estragole, a known carcinogen and teratogen in mice.

Estragole, along with other oils that provide tarragon its flavor, are highly volatile and will vaporise as the leaf is dried, reducing both the health risk and the useability of the herb.

In Syria, fresh tarragon is eaten with white Syrian cheese, and also used with dishes such as shish barak and kibbeh labaniyeh.

Tarragon is used to flavor a popular carbonated soft drink in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (where it originally comes from), and, by extension, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The drink, named Tarkhun, is made out of sugar, carbonated water, and tarragon leaves which give it its signature green color.

Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis has revealed that A. dracunculus oil contains predominantly phenylpropanoids such as estragole (16.2%), methyl eugenol (35.8%), and trans-anethole (21.1%).

[15] The other major constituents were terpenes and terpenoids, including α-trans-ocimene (20.6%), limonene (12.4%), α-pinene (5.1%), allo-ocimene (4.8%), methyl eugenol (2.2%), β-pinene (0.8%), α-terpinolene (0.5%), bornyl acetate (0.5%) and bicyclogermacrene (0.5%).